We ask the attention of the members of the North Carolina Medical
Society, at the request of Dr. Charles Duffy, Jr., President, to their
obligation as Chairmen and members of Committees and Sections.
The sections as instituted at the last meeting of the Society are as
follows:
_Surgery and Anatomy._—Dr. Charles J. O’Hagan, Greenville.
_Obstetrics Gynæcology._—Dr. H. Otis Hyatt, Kinston.
_Practice of Medicine._—Dr. W. A. B. Norcom, Edenton.
_Materia Medica and Therapeutics._—Dr. G. G. Smith, Mill Hill.
_Microscopy and Pathology._—Dr. G. G. Thomas, Wilmington.
It will be remembered that the resolution creating the Sections offered
by Dr. Shaffner, of Salem, designed that all papers coming under the
above heads should be presented to the Chairman of that section, and
through him papers are to be presented to the Society. It is highly
desirable, therefore, that papers intended to be presented should be
sent forward to their proper chairman, that they may get early
attention. The ultimate design of this method is to promote a systematic
and orderly presentation of papers, and to induce every contributor to
the literature of the Society to put his paper in a way to be properly
shaped before being read to the Society. Sometimes papers are too long
to be read during the session, and still are too important to be
neglected. These papers should be passed upon by the Section to which
they belong, and given to the publication committee.
As desirable as this plan is, it must not be understood to exclude
papers prepared too late to be reviewed by the section, for literary
laziness and procrastination is the prominent failing of members of our
State Medical Society. (We are now speaking as editors).
With the additional work now devolving upon our State Society, every
effort will have to be made to economize time. It is desirable that the
Board of Medical Examiners meet a day in advance of the Society, in
order that candidates passing the Board can at once enter into the
duties of full membership, and enable the members of the Board also, to
take active part in the proceedings. This we understand to be the plan
agreed upon by the Board, and it may be officially announced in this
JOURNAL.
All these matters should be thought over before the meeting is right
upon us, if we intend to make the best use of the opportunities
presented, and not embarrass the presiding officer by a jumble of
ill-digested work, or bring disrepute upon the Society by presenting
papers put together without due study.
Another matter of vital importance should be carefully considered by
every member of the Society. It is the amendment proposed by Dr. T. D.
Haigh, of Fayetteville. He proposes to amend the Constitution (Art. IV,
Sec. 2,) so that the officers are elected by ballot. This is not a new
feature. It has been tried before in the Society but was found to
consume a great deal of time. This is the only objection we have heard
against it, and this should not be considered insuperable, if the
amendment corrects abuses of which we have heard complaints.
We would like to see the office of President filled for a longer term
than one year. A good presiding officer is not so easy to get that we
ought to be willing to let him go out of office as soon as he has shown
his capacity, and this remark applies with peculiar force to the present
incumbent. To affect this change though, there must be a further
amendment of the Constitution.